58,000 lives and 350,000 casualties, but the table is beautiful

[SoCalDem]

Yesterday when the freight company delivered my new dining set, I could not help noticing the large letters on the crate:

MADE IN VIET NAM

It's made of Birch wood..(do Birch trees grow in Viet Nam?)

The guys delivering it noticed it first & one said, "My uncle died in Viet Nam & it makes me feel a bit dirty handling this stuff".

I don't know what the "message" is/was, but maybe it's that wars end..even unjustified ones, and given time, business as usual always takes over.

[Bonobo]

1. A pittance compared to the number of people the US slaughtered.

2 million.

[SoCalDem]

2. that too.

:(

[snappyturtle]

I think the story here is the dining set's country of origin being Viet Nam

rather than USA.

[SoCalDem]

5. Yes it is.. It came from Texas & is made of birch, so one would assume

it would not be made in Viet Nam.. I was surprised

[snappyturtle]

11. I guess I didn't get my point across. My concern was not the materials

the dining set was made from, it is the fact that it was crafted in Viet Nam rather than in the USA.

An aside: Why couldn't birch (fast growing) grow in Viet Nam? Maybe the wood was imported to VN...

[SoCalDem]

12. It was probably grown here, sent there and made there, & shipped back

:(

I think birch is a cold climate tree..

[Recursion]

15. There are south China birches

Including the uncreatively named "south China birch". So it's not inconceivable that Vietnam would have them (and if they don't, they could certainly import them from China).

[SoCalDem]

17. That's probably where they come from.. I always think of tropical plants when

SE Asia comes to mind, but China is like their "Canada".. :)

[Recursion]

18. Interesting thing about the Vietnamese climate

Americans for the most part were in the south of the country and think of that as its climate, but Vietnam stretches over 16 parallels of latitude and at its farthest north is about even with San Diego. The north also includes some highlands; its highest point is over 10,000 feet.

[madokie]

3. I spent 15 months in country Vietnam

and I treasure the shorts I bought a few years ago that are made of hemp cloth that were made in 'Nam. I never had a problem with the Vietnamese it was and still is the politicians and big moneyed interest that put me there that I have a problem with. When I go into a shop that is run/owned by a Vietnamese I can't keep from smiling. I lost a lot of friends there but it wasn't the people who were trying to protect themselves and what they have/had at fault.

Hell maybe I'm just a commie pinko after all :-)

I wish it wasn't our companies that is exploiting the people there though. Again thats where my feeling of dirty comes from.

[SoCalDem]

6. Everyoone I have met who has been "back", marvels at how magnanimous the people are

even the ones old enough to have lived through the war. They harbor no ill will:)

[madokie]

10. I realized early on I was lied to

in the mean time I fell in love with the People. You'd just have to be there to understand that one.

I want to hug every Vietnamese I see even too today. I have no ill feelings toward them at all. I wish we could take that one back but one thing is there is no going back, once a deed is done thats it.

I'd love to go back there for my personal healing but I realize I can never do that. That window of opportunity has gone by now.

[Bigmack]

19. What you said... nt

[madrchsod]

4. millions died so walmart can sell hana montana t-shirts for 8 dollars...

[Bandit]

7. It means we won, they won, everyone won

and dominoes did not fall anywhere. Now we have a very good trading partner that actually likes us..

[SoCalDem]

8. and once again, rich old men in suits led us all down a liars' path

they got rich....nearly ruined a beautiful country & got a lot of people killed unnecessarily.

such a waste

[snappyturtle]

20. Why isn't anyone here concerned that American workers did not

make the dining set? (See my posts up thread) I'm now going to the nearest wall to bang my head. :banghead:

[zipplewrath]

9. They bought Toyotas

An awful lot of WWII vets bought Toyotas and Hondas. Wars end.

They had "renunions" at Gettysburg years after where combatants from both sides attended. In some cases people walked across pickets charge and figured out where friends had died. Occasionally, the shooter would identify themselves.

[Recursion]

13. Birch trees

Betula chinensis and Betula szechuanica live in south China, so if not in Vietnam itself then nearby.

[JVS]

14. You'd think Vietnam would be more pissed off, considering how badly we fucked up their country

[JohnnyLib2]

16. I'm glad you, or anyone, stopped to think about it.

So many lives lost, changed..............